


An empty space, Find us where the lines get blurry

by CheetahLeopard2



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Comfort, High School, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon, implied PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:40:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24887740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheetahLeopard2/pseuds/CheetahLeopard2
Summary: In which Itona and Karma continue school, navigate life post- Koro-sensei, and teach Itona what the fuck childhood was supposed to entail (namely silly movies and a game called 'tag').Horibe Itona and Akabane Karma are a bit more similar than the others may realize.Everyone in 3-E was attached to Koro-sensei, but to only a few was he truly like a parent. And to fewer still was he the only parental figure they’d ever get.And so- at the end of final role call- Karma seeks out Itona’s gaze.They walk away together, before the tears have truly stopped. Itona takes one last shuddering breath, and presses into Karma’s side.Karma invites him to stay.
Relationships: Akabane Karma/Asano Gakushuu, Akabane Karma/Asano Gakushuu/Horibe Itona, Akabane Karma/Horibe Itona, Asano Gakushuu/Horibe Itona
Comments: 39
Kudos: 144





	1. To seek out comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. Welcome! I've written 4.5k of this in one day and I'll be posting it bits at a time. At least once a week- probably on Sundays, not Tuesdays (1st ch posted a tues) 
> 
> Food for thought- Where else would Itona _live_ but Karma's huge, empty house????  
> Anyways Itona and Karma are at the very least very close. Please join me.

Horibe Itona and Akabane Karma are a bit more similar than the others may realize.

Everyone in 3-E was attached to Koro-sensei, but to only a few was he truly like a parent. And to fewer still was he the only parental figure they’d ever get.

And so- at the end of final role call- Karma seeks out Itona’s gaze.

They walk away together, before the tears have truly stopped. Itona takes one last shuddering breath, and presses into Karma’s side.

Karma invites him to stay.

* * *

“I hear you’re the only one staying on with us,” Asano Gakushuu says as Karma steps onto the bus, “So I’ll be sure to grill you about what happened.”

Karma grins, a tad weary and a touch too sharp, “I’ll hold you to that.”

Itona startles a bit when Karma takes a seat next to him, but soon is subconsciously leaning against Karma’s arm.

“Did you tell him I’m staying with you?” Itona asks, too quietly to be overheard.

“Nah,” Karma grins, this time a tad evil and all genuine, “He can learn for himself.”

* * *

The break between junior high and high school begins in earnest with little fanfare.

Karma wakes in the morning not to an alarm, as he usually would, but to birds chirping and a soft sort of stillness in the air.

He would usually start the day wondering about an assassination attempt. Today, he reaches for his knife before withdrawing his hand, turning on his other side under the blanket with a sharp inhale.

There would be no school today, and there would never again be Koro-sensei waiting to be assassinated.

He’s gone.

He inhales again, slower. There’s no Koro-sensei now, only a too-large, too-empty residence, a group chat full of references to hollow memories, and training that will fade out of useful application.

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until the cold tears have soaked his pillow enough for him to feel it.

His bedroom door creaks, and Karma stiffens.

“Akabane?” Itona’s voice, soft and unusure, filters through his momentary panic, “are you alright?”

Karma takes a breath, wipes his eyes, and sits up, “I will be.”

Not too alone, he thinks that maybe, _maybe,_ one day he’ll be telling the truth.

* * *

There’s a festival, a couple days into break. Itona says he’s never been to one, and Karma can’t let that go unremedied.

And so they find themselves out of the house for the first time since graduation.

Before long, they find themselves having fun. They waste Karma’s parents’ money on festival food before Itona’s gaze catches on the large displays of prizes at game booths.

After suitably cowing the booth manager at a sharpshooting game, and walking away with perhaps too many stuffed toys, Karma’s about to suggest they call it a night.

Then a gunshot rings out, loud enough to catch the attention of all the festival-goers.

Itona and Karma immediately press their backs against each others’, reaching for guns that aren’t there. There’s a frozen, stilted fear that rushes up to sharpen their senses and clog their minds.

A rush of bright light draws their attention upwards, and even seeing fireworks Karma can’t help his heart racing and his throat feeling raw.

Itona isn’t much better, shaking with every new ‘pop’, staring with glazed eyes into the artificially bright sky.

Karma touches Itona’s wrist, and it takes a couple of times blinking at him for Itona’s eyes to focus.

They clasp hands, and leave to seek refuge in the too-silent house.

That night, Itona doesn’t even bother going to the door past Karma’s, the impersonal room left alone in favor of curling into the solid, real warmth of Karma’s body.

Even if Itona isn’t focusing hard, he can feel Karma’s sob-stuttered breathing and knows his heart beats strong.

They’re alive.

* * *

Somewhere, between late nights whispering fears into the dark and days spent with Karma teaching Itona regular childhood stuff, “Akabane” becomes “Karma”, and “Horibe” becomes “Itona”.

* * *

“I haven’t been to school,” Itona admits, interupting the movie neither of them were truly paying attention to.

It’s the last night they have before they go back to Kunugigaoka as high schoolers, “last year was my first. Shiro-” his breath shakes and Karma presses closer, a silent reassurance.

“Shiro taught me basics, and Koro-sensei,” his breath catches on their dead teacher’s name, “he’s caught me up. But I’ve never…” he trails off, twisting to bury his face in Karma’s shoulder.

Karma’s hand comes up to brush through Itona’s hair, “Let’s make this year a good one, then,” he says, voice cloyed with seriousness and sadness, but never pity.

* * *

They walk to the school together, Karma filling the anticipatory silence with mindless chatter.

When they see the gates, strong and imposing as always, Itona takes a shuddering inhale, and Karma pauses in his tirade, looking to him with concern.

“Karma,” Itona says seriously, “Good luck.”

Karma expression softens, “You too.”

They high five, interlacing their fingers for a quick, reassuring squeeze, and pull apart.

* * *

Gakushuu is already in the classroom when Karma enters, appraising each face as he goes. Gakushuu catches Karma’s gaze, and they hold the contact for a moment, before Itona steps in behind Karma.

Gakushuu may be well-practiced in hiding his expressions, but Karma and Itona were trained by Irina herself. They catch the surprised twitch of his lips.

The teacher steps into the room and calls for order, before starting on the seating chart.

To Karma’s horror, he’s sat at the front, next to Gakushuu, as the seating chart is done by english alphabet of last names.

To both of their horrors, this also means they’re separated, Itona sitting almost squarely in the middle of the classroom.

They do introductions, standing one at a time to recite their name and the class they were in the previous year, as well as an ambition they have for the year.

Karma’s, of course, mirrors Gakushuu’s. To get first place rank at finals.

Itona’s is simply to not drop down a class.

They both pretend not to notice the stares when they announce they were in 3-E.

Itona does his best to focus during their morning lessons, while Karma doesn’t even feign interest, doodling in the margins of his notebook the whole time.

Finally, the bell rings for lunch. Karma stands to go over to Itona, and is immediately stopped by Gakushuu’s voice, “Akabane, remember you have some explaining to do.

Karma opens his mouth, to tell Gakushuu to fuck off or to ask him to do this later he hadn’t quite decided yet, when Itona stalls him with a touch to his arm.

“Come find us when you think you’re ready,” Karma settles on, and to their surprise when they walk away, they aren’t followed.


	2. In The Arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gakushuu time starts HERE!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's gonna be Sunday updates

Lunch is spent in the courtyard, and soon after is gym.

Itona wasn’t sure what he expected when he saw gym on the schedule, but this wasn’t quite it. They went through basic stretches, before the teacher named some game that they would play called ‘tag’.

Everyone went very silent when Itona raised his hand, and asked her to explain how to play. Apparently ‘tag’ is a common childhood game.

Karma gestures to follow him when they split to play, and quietly explains that they’ll be expected to run around only, rather than climbing trees or parkouring.

Itona nodded along, Karma’s explanation was simple, and said without the annoyance of a sensei who thought Itona was messing around.

Karma and Itona separate, Karma going into the thick of things and Itona choosing to linger by the bleachers, not truly paying attention.

When he senses someone running toward him, hand outstretched, he doesn’t feel like they’re playing a game. The hand reaches to hit him and all of a sudden he is back in Shiro’s lab, being subdued so they could cut him open and stitch him up and make him hurt and make him _bleed_.

He flips the person, blinded by fear. There’s screaming and another person is reaching for him and he attacks blindly, blood rushing in his ears and tears blurring his vision. This person fights back, finally getting him pressed into a warm chest and rocking Itona as all the fight drains out of him. It smells like safety and the only home he’s ever known.

Karma’s voice comes to him next, whispering that he’s safe, they’re fine, the lab is gone.

Itona realizes he’s shaking, and his throat is raw- the screams were his own.

They sink onto the grass, Itona keeping his eyes screwed shut as he apologizes, over and over.

They’re henceforth excused from gym.

* * *

They call with most of 3-E that night, and the majority of them have had problems, particularly with gym.

“It’s not hard enough, so it always feels like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Rio huffs, sounding put out and maybe the slightest bit bitter.

Itona understands, and Karma laughs a bit hollowly, “Every day for the rest of our lives.”

* * *

The rumors start not long after, about Itona losing his shit and also about their fighting skills.

Karma has apparently always been a delinquent and thus is mostly unsurprising, but Itona is an unknown.

It would severely hinder their abilities to make external friends, if either of them cared much for that in the first place.

There are only a few people who approach Itona, mostly whenever he’s alone. Karma’s taken to sitting with Gakushuu for lunch every so often, after Gakushuu said it would help at the very least their reputation with teachers, but Itona had politely declined.

He doesn’t, in all honesty, know much about Gakushuu. He knows he was in class 3-A, that he was pretty good at pole-toppling, that he’s book smart, and that he protected 3-E after graduation.

The list ends there, and Itona’s been trying to observe more about him. All that’s come from that is the realization that Gakushuu fakes most of his school life, and that he’s charming enough to manipulate his way out of people disliking him. He seems relatively open around Karma, probably seeing him an equal.

(Itona wonders, distantly, if Gakushuu would ever consider him an equal, if only because Karma does.)

Today the people who find him- huddled away from the wind behind a tree in the courtyard- are people he didn’t expect, and probably should have.

The Virtuosos, lead by the one with brown hair flopped to the side and an undercut, sit in a half-circle, leaving Itona no escape route except up the tree. He’s probably the 2nd-in-command, after Gakushuu.

He settles in wearily, putting down one of the bentos Karma had made this morning and pulling his crossed legs up in front of him, “What do you want?” he asks.

“We have a couple questions,” the 2nd-in-command begins, in a tone that would be threatening if Itona didn’t know from junior high that the only one of the virtuosos with physical prowess is Gakushuu.

Iton nods, and the one with gross long hair pushes up his glasses, “What does Akabane want with Asano?”

Itona tilts his head, considering, “Asano approached us,” he corrects, “Is there anything else?”

“Actually, yes,” the one who Itona vaguely remembers did the school announcements says, “Who are you?”

Itona stills, “Pardon?”

“We did some digging into your family name, and found that Horibe Electronics went bankrupt some years ago-” they continue after that, but Itona doesn’t hear.

There’s static in his ears and his eyes sting. It feels almost like back when he first got the tentacles removed, and everything hurt and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be okay again.

There’s shouting in the distance, and Itona finally blinks the blankness from his vision. Karma is squaring off against 2nd-in-command, cursing him out in multiple languages, barely restrained by the rest of the virtuosos, and Asano Gakushuu himself is crouching in front of Itona, voice terribly gentle and eyes sincere, “Hey, I need you to breath, okay?”

Itona nods shakily, and Gakushuu smiles a bit, “In for 4. 1- 2- 3- 4. Hold for 7. 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7. Out for 4. 1- 2- 3- 4.”

They repeat it a couple times, before Gakushuu deems him alright enough to stand, offering his hand to pull Itona up.

Itona takes it, and it feels important that he did.

“Can’t you tell we’ve been through enough?!” Karma’s shouting, and he looks beyond furious. He looks exhausted.

“Ren,” Gakushuu’s authoritative voice makes everyone but Karma, who continues glaring at the Virtuosos, turn to him, “Back the fuck off.”

Itona doesn’t think he’s ever heard Gakushuu curse, and by the reactions of his croonies, they haven’t either.

“But Gaku-” He- Ren, apparently- is cut off by Gakushuu.

“What would have _possibly_ inspired you to look into Horibe-san’s past? Why the hell would you ask him about it when he’s clearly been traumatized by something? Did you use your critical thinking skills _at all_?”

Ren looks particularly put out, and stays silent.

Gakushuu places a hand on Itona’s back, between his shoulderblades, Itona’s bag in his other hand, and steers him away from the group, quietly apologizing to him the full way. Karma throws one last glare and threat before following.

“It’s-” Itona starts, and pauses, unsure how to finish. Because it’s not okay. He’s not fine.

Karma catches up, throwing his arm over Itona’s shoulders in a comforting, familiar weight.

Itona leans into his side, and Gakushuu withdraws his hand with a bitter smile, but continues guiding them through the school as Karma asks in hushed, harried whispers about what they did to him.

“They just asked about Horibe Electronics,” Itona mutters back, “I’ll be fine.”

Karma huffs, but drops it.

His arm slips from around Itona’s shoulders after one last reassuring squeeze, and he asks Asano, “Where are we going, anyway?”

“The nurse,” Gakushuu answers, “Unless you want to go back to class.”

“Class,” Karma insists immediately, at the same time as Itona, who shakes his head violently.

“No doctors.”

Gakushuu looks surprised, but acquiesces.

They make it back to class just before the bell rings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only have I think 2 more scenes to write before I have the finalized chapter count. Definitely at least 4
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. of those whom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm love them

As soon as they get home Karma herds Itona away from the kitchen towards their bedroom, having him lay down to get some rest while he cooks despite Itona’s insistence that he’s fine.

Itona tosses and turns for a bit, then stares at the ceiling until he smells something sweet and doughy.

Karma’s not in the kitchen when he makes it downstairs, though the oven is on with a timer set.

Itona hears quiet sniffles from the direction of the sitting room, and inside he finds Karma curled up, forehead pressing into his knees as he shakes on the floor.

Itona sits beside him, and lets Karma uncurl enough to pull Itona into his lap, burying his face into the crook of his neck. Itona plays with Karma’s hair, surprisingly soft, as he sobs.

“How many times?” Karma asks, later, after the timer beeping has pulled them away to get what Itona learns are cookies from the oven, “How many times do we have to relive the worst parts, even as the best part is gone?”

Itona doesn’t have an answer, but Karma doesn’t seem to mind. He reaches for Itona’s hand, presses closer, and settles.

They don’t quite fit together right, but Itona privately likes that, because he feels like individually their shattered souls don’t quite fit right in their scarred bodies anyway.

* * *

He’s never had cookies before, but now Itona thinks that they’re one of the best foods in the world.

* * *

The next few weeks go marginally better. They find an abandoned classroom to eat lunch and spent gym in, and Gakushuu starts eating lunch with them every other day.

He’s surprisingly easy to get along with without the fake smiles and formal speech, and Itona finds himself able to truly relax for the first time in a long time when he watches Karma goad Gakushuu into ridiculous arguments.

Today, it’s over math test scores. They both got the same score, so Karma’s trying to convince Gakushuu that he made a bigger error on the problem they both lost points on.

Itona’s distracted from his thoughts by Karma whining and draping himself over Itona’s side, “I bet Itona’d believe me~ Right Itona?”

Itona shrugs his free shoulder, “I don’t know enough about math to tell,” he says honestly, “I got that wrong too.”

Karma sighs, and Gakushuu rolls his eyes, a bit more fondly than he’d admit, returning to working on an essay that was assigned that morning.

“Itona,” Karma whispers, and Itona turns his head. Karma’s close, like this. Close enough for Itona to see the lines of paranoia (that only seem to be getting worse for all of former 3-E) around his eyes, to count his eyelashes, and to read the exhaustion in his eyes, “do you mind if I take a nap like this?”

“Go ahead,” Itona answers, “I don’t think you’ll get sleep any way else.”

Karma huffs a laugh, scoots his chair a bit closer, and closes his eyes. His eyelashes tickle against Itona’s neck.

He looks up from his phone a bit later to see Gakushuu staring at them.

“When did you two start dating?” Gakushuu asks, in response to Itona’s questioning eyes.

This only confuses Itona more, “What’s that?”

Gakushuu stiffens, “Dating?”

Itona nods, and Gakushuu smiles, a bit brittle and a bit pitying. Itona never wanted pity before, but now he’s tired and disillusioned, and thinks that sometimes well-meant pity is a nice reprieve.

“Is Akabane still awake?”

Itona shrugs, unsettling Karma, who looks around with bleary eyes, “wassat?”

Gakushuu laughs a bit, a quiet, nice sound. It’s been a long time since Itona’s heard a genuine laugh.

“Akabane, Horibe doesn’t know what dating is.”

Karma blinks, suddenly fully awake, and pulls away to look at Itona, who’s studying him with curious eyes.

“I probably shouldn’t be surprised by that,” Karma mutters, “Fuckin’ Shiro.”

“Fuckin’ Shiro,” Itona nods. There’s a lot he’s missed out on because of that asshole.

“Okay, so. Basically. You know those movies I made you watch? Over break?” Karma begins, and Itona nods, “So basically, you know how in those when people mutually liked each other romantically, they went out to dinner and the movies and stuff? Those are dates, and dating. It’s like that.”

“Oh,” Itona thinks for a moment, “Okay, I get it.” He turns to Gakushuu, who’s listening to Karma’s explanation with amusement, “I don’t think Karma and I are dating.”

Karma chokes on air, and Itona startles as Karma coughs beside him.

“Oh, sorry for assuming,” Gakushuu says awkwardly.

“You don’t _think?”_ Karma asks, after taking a couple careful sips of strawberry juice.

“Are we?” Itona asks, and Karma pauses.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what romantic feelings should feel like.”

“I probably shouldn’t be part of this conversation,” Gakushuu says, moving to pack up, but Karma waves him back.

“It’s all good, we’ll just talk about it when we get home.”

“Oh,” Gakushuu thinks for a moment, “Do you live together?”

“Yeah,” Karma answers, and there’s a strange sort of bite to it that has Itona looking up sharply, touching Karma’s wrist in a silent reminder that _This is Gakushuu._ While he might not have been the best to them in junior high, he’s trying now.

“Is there a problem?” Itona asks, genuinely, and Asano shakes his head.

“Not at all, I was just surprised.”

“I had nowhere else to go, after,” Itona explains, and Asano shakes his head.

“You don’t need to tell me, I’m sure I wouldn’t fully understand anyway.”

“Do you want to?” Karma asks, leaning forward in what’s both a challenge and an open invitation, “Are you ready?”

Gakushuu half-shrugs, an awkward but kind smile on his face, “Are you?”

Karma leans back in his seat again, letting out a slow breath, “I think I am. Itona?”

“Maybe not all of my,” he waves a hand in the air vaguely, “but Koro-sensei, sure.”

Unfortunate wonder of all unfortunate wonders, the bell rings then.

“Come over after school,” Karma offers, and Gakushuu nods before heading off to gym, leaving them alone in the classroom.

“So,” Karma speaks first, after a long moment of silence. It wasn’t quite _uncomfortable_ , Itona isn’t sure they would ever have a silence that’s _uncomfortable_ , but it’s nice to have it broken, nonetheless.

“So,” Itona echoes, and Karma loops his arm around Itona’s shoulders.

“Dating?” His voice has a slight tremble to it, one that Itona’s come to associate with fear.

“Why are you afraid?” Itona asks, “It’s just me.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Karma whispers, an admission he’s probably only made to one other person- whom they both lost anyway.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Itona says, after thinking for a bit, “Dating.”

“You’d probably mind dating me,” Karma says, voice equal parts wonder and hardened regret.

“Why?” Itona asks, “We’re all a little broken.”

“I think all of 3-E is a lot broken,” Karma admits, “That’s not it.”

Itona presses into Karma’s side as Karma thinks of what to say, “I don’t-” he starts, “If I like you, then I think I like Asano too.”

Karma’s tense, hands curled into fists as he waits for Itona to shrug off his arm- but instead, Itona shifts, turning and pressing a hand to Karma’s cheek, “Why is that bad? Asano has been kind, and he challenges you, and he seems attractive. Couldn’t he just date us too, if he wants?”

Karma jolts, startled, before he starts laughing, “Sometimes, Itona,” he says, “You know exactly what to say.”

Itona shrugs.

“Usually people only date one person at a time,” Karma explains, “But when have we ever been normal? Even if he says no, we know it’s okay to have liked him.”

Itona nods, and pats Karma’s head.

And Karma laughs again, a genuine, bright thing that Itona had only heard twice before, before ruffling Itona’s hair back.

They sit in companionable silence until the bell rings, Itona fiddling with his phone (Ritsu has introduced him to the world of phone games) as Karma watches, chin hooked over his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment?? =)


	4. you care for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO SORRY I forgot to post yesterday life's been hitting me like a freight truck

The day ends and Gakushuu finds them by the gate, and they start the walk home.

“I’ve never been to your place, Karma,” Gakushuu says as they cross a street, “What should I expect? How should I treat your parents?”

Karma stiffens, and Itona bumps his arm with his shoulder, “They’re not there,” Karma says simply, and Gakushuu nods, and that’s that.

Karma and Gakushuu get into another light debate that lasts until they step through the door, at which point Itona cuts them off with, “Where are we talking?”

Karma shrugs, “Either in our room or the sitting room, I guess.”

Itona nods, and leads them up the stairs to the room that Karma and he’ve been sharing, grabbing his graduation book from the desk in the corner before taking a seat on the bed.

Karma follows, and, after a second of hesitation, so does Gakushuu.

Karma starts off by pointing out his suspension didn’t end until 3 days after school started, and Gakushuu nods. Itona listens with interest as Karma goes through the events up until he joined the class, with Gakushuu interjecting with the occasional question.

By the time Karma says, “And the next day is when Itona first appears,” it’s dark outside, and Gakushuu’s phone buzzes.

“Hold on, it’s father, I should take this. It’s late, so he probably wants me home.”

Itona nods, and Karma checks his phone too, “I should get started on dinner.”

They head downstairs, leaving Gakushuu to talk with the former principal.

Karma’s nearly through making a simple dinner when Itona accidentally drops his glass into the sink, and it shatters with a lound _clang_.

Karma makes a choked sound, eyes blowing wide, trembling and sinking down to crouch on the kitchen floor, hands over his ears.

Itona stands frozen, “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,” repeated over and over. It’s his voice but he doesn’t feel his mouth moving.

Gakushuu quickly appears in the entrance to the kitchen, and curses when he assesses the situation.

Quickly, he rushes over to the stove, turning off the heat and pulling the pan to a different burner. He turns to Itona, gently grasping his hand, which Itona realizes belatedly is bleeding, and has him put it under a soft stream of water from the tap before he turns to Karma, who’s rocking back and forth, shaking his head with his eyes screwed shut.

Gakushuu calms Karma down enough to guide his hands away from his ears, “You’re okay, it’s okay.”

There’s a sharp rap on the front door, and Gakushuu quickly assures Karma that “that’s my father, he’s here to pick me up- I’m going to go get him, are you okay here?”

Karma nods, regaining his breath, and by the time Gakushuu makes it back into the kitchen with Gakuhou, Karma’s fussing over Itona’s wound, red-rimmed eyes narrowed in focus as he makes absolutely sure there’s no glass left in it.

Gakuhou produces a large bandage and a salve that he explains he had in the car, and Itona eyes him wearily as he double-checks for glass bits and has him wash his hand again, before bandaging his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Gakuhou says, into the silent kitchen when it’s all over, “I should have thought about the lasting effects.”

Itona shakes his head, even as Gakushuu rounds on his father, “I wouldn’t be here if you did.”

There’s another stretch of silence, before Karma claps his hands, “Let’s eat.”

* * *

Gakushuu comes over a couple nights later, with permission to stay the night, and Karma and Itona explain the rest together, finally finishing with Koro-sensei’s final role call at around one am.

“Wow,” Gakushuu says, after a stretch of silence after they finish, “So you got,” he counts off on his fingers, “shot at, poisoned, targeted by a master assassin, etc, and _no one_ knew?”

Karma and Itona exchange a glace, “When you put it that way, yeah, pretty much.”

“Yikes.” Gakushuu says, and that about sums it up, really.

“Where do you want to sleep?” Karma asks, a few rounds of Mario Kart later.

“What do you mean?” Gakushuu asks.

“You could sleep with us in our room, or you can sleep in a spare room, though the only somewhat-clean one hasn’t been touched since last graduation.” Karma lists off, and Gakushuu considers.

“I guess. It depends- would you guys mind me sleeping with you?”

Karma smirks, about to make a joke about Gakushuu’s wording, when Itona elbows his side, “We wouldn’t mind.”

“Alright.”

Karma hops on the bed first, and Itona turns off the lights and closes the door behind Gakushuu before joining him, placing his head on Karma’s chest and being enveloped in familiar arms.

Gakushuu makes a confused noise, “Are you two dating now?”

“I mean we do this every night but. Yeah, I guess,” Karma says awkwardly, “Is that a problem?”

“No,” Gakushuu says, and his smile seems brittle in the moonlight, “I’m happy for you both. Are you sure you’re alright with me sleeping here though?”

Itona groans, “We want you here with us, Gakushuu. I’m tired, can we please sleep?”

Gakushuu and Karma both startle at the use of Gakushuu’s first name, but Karma recovers quickly.

He extends his arm, beckoning for Gakushuu to lay on his other side.

Gakushuu crawls beside them, a piece of tape holding fragments together. He presses close, head over Karma’s heart and Itona’s fingers curled between his own.

Gakushuu closes his eyes, and stays.

* * *

“Are we all dating now?” Itona asks, when they wake up tangled together.

“Are you both alright with that?” Gakushuu asks, startled. Karma can feel his fingers curl in his hair.

He’s nervous, Karma realizes, “Are you?”

Itona taps over Gakushuu’s heart, telling him to breath.

Gakushuu inhales, exhales, “Yes, I am.”

“Good,” Karma smiles, sitting up a bit to lean over Itona, “Cause I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while.”

“Then do it, coward,” Gakushuu says, and Itona watches as their lips meet above him, how Karma’s eyes flutter shut and how Gakushuu tilts his head, and smiles.

He can feel Gakushuu’s pulse speed up from where he’s gripping his wrist, and can see the tips of Karma’s ears redden.

 _This_ , he thinks, _must be happiness._

Then Karma and Gakushuu turn to him with matching smiles, all soft lips and sharp teeth, and Itona learns how it feels to feel love pressed to your lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter isn't going to be on the Sunday schedule because it's just a couple extra scenes I want to write =) I'll post it when I'm finished with them

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment!!! Thank you <3


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